Media exposure and verification utilizing inductive coupling

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented system and method for establishing media data exposure, where a media device, such as a computer, radio, television and the like, receive media data and produces research data from it. The research data may be based on computer-based or computer network-based characteristics, ancillary codes or audio signatures. As the research data is being produced, an inductive coupling is sought for nearby portable computer devices. Once a portable computing device inductively couples to the media device, information is transferred, allowing a system to determine and/or verify that specific users were exposed to particular media data.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is directed to processor-based audienceanalytics. More specifically, the disclosure describes systems andmethods for utilizing inductive coupling to perform audience measurementwhere inductive coupling is utilized to measure and verify user exposureto media data.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Interest in measuring media data exposure has been growing in recentyears, with many seeking to determine the numbers and types ofindividuals that are exposed to or consume media data. The terms “mediadata” and “media” as used herein mean data which is widely accessible,whether over-the-air, or via cable, satellite, network, internetwork(including the Internet), displayed, distributed on storage media, or byany other means or technique that is humanly perceptible, without regardto the form or content of such data, and including but not limited toaudio, video, audio/video, text, images, animations, databases,broadcasts, displays (including but not limited to video displays), webpages and streaming media. To date, a number of improvements have beenmade for counting aggregate numbers of users that may have been exposedto media data.

However, one area where improvements are needed is the accuracy of mediaexposure tracking. While aggregate numbers are useful in determiningtotal user exposure to media data, these aggregate numbers do not havesufficient information linking individual users to media data andoccasionally have inconsistencies and/or inaccuracies. Recent advancesin inductive coupling technologies make this platform attractive for usein identifying users. What is needed are methods, systems andapparatuses for utilizing inductive couple in conjunction with mediaexposure data to produce research data that accurately identifies andcharacterizes devices, and their accompanying users. The term “researchdata” as used herein means data comprising (1) data concerning usage ofmedia data, (2) data concerning exposure to media data, and/or (3)market research data.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, apparatuses, systems and methods are disclosed forcomputer-implemented techniques for establishing media data exposure fora computer processing device or other device capable of receiving mediadata where media data is received in is verified with a plurality ofportable computing devices utilizing inductive coupling. In oneembodiment, a computer-implemented method for processing media dataexposure is disclosed for receiving media data in a computer processingdevice; producing research data relating to the media data; detecting ifa portable computing device is inductively coupled to the computerprocessing device; receiving information from the portable computingdevice via an inductive connection if it is detected that a portablecomputing device is coupled; and associating the information to theresearch data.

Under another embodiment, a processor-implemented method for processingmedia data exposure is disclosed for receiving media data in a portabledevice configured to communicate via an inductive connection; generatingresearch data, based on the media data, in the portable device; andreceiving further data via the inductive connection from a media devicethat reproduced the media data, wherein the further data is associatedwith the research data. Under yet another embodiment, aprocessor-implemented method for processing media data exposure isdisclosed receiving a plurality of research data relating to a pluralityof media data presented on a plurality of devices; receiving portablecomputing device data relating to information received by each of aplurality of devices via an inductive connection with a respectiveplurality of portable computing devices; associating the portablecomputing device data with the plurality of research data; andgenerating a media exposure report based on the association.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which likereferences indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system under one embodiment, where mediadata is provided from a network to a processing device in the vicinityof a plurality of portable devices;

FIG. 2 illustrates a graphic representation of inductive coupling datatransfers under a plurality of different configurations;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary load modulation circuit for aninductively coupled transponder;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary graphic representation of subcarriersfor data transmitted on a inductively coupled carrier signal;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary backscatter transponder under anotherexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary device configured to perform inductivecoupling with an external reader or tag; and

FIG. 7 is an exemplary flowchart for associating users to media data toprovide research data having linked inductive coupling characteristics.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system 100 that comprises a computerprocessing device 101 and a plurality of portable computing devices(102-104) that are in the vicinity of processing device 101. In thisexample, processing device 101 is illustrated as a personal computer,while portable computing devices 102-104 are illustrated as cell phones.It is understood by those skilled in the art that other similar devicesmay be used as well. For example, processing device 101 may also be alaptop, a computer tablet, a set-top box, a media player, anetwork-enabled television or DVD player, and the like. Portablecomputing devices 102-104 may also be laptops, PDAs, tablet computers,Personal People Meters™ (PPMs), wireless telephone, etc.

Under a preferred embodiment, computer processing device 101 connects tocontent source 109 via network 110 to obtain media data. The terms“media data” and “media” as used herein mean data which is widelyaccessible, whether over-the-air, or via cable, satellite, network,internetwork (including the Internet), displayed, distributed on storagemedia, or by any other means or technique that is humanly perceptible,without regard to the form or content of such data, and including butnot limited to audio, video, audio/video, text, images, animations,databases, broadcasts, displays (including but not limited to videodisplays), web pages, computer files and streaming media. As media isreceived on computer processing device 101, analytics software residingon computer processing device 101 (possibly communicating withcollection server 108) collects information relating to media datareceived from content source 109, and additionally may collect datarelating to network 110.

Data relating to the media data may include a “cookie”, also known as anHTTP cookie, which can provide state information (memory of previousevents) from a user's browser and return the state information to acollecting site, which may be the content source 109 or collectionserver 108, or both. The state information can be used foridentification of a user session, authentication, user's preferences,shopping cart contents, or anything else that can be accomplishedthrough storing text data on the user's computer. When setting a cookie,transfer of content such as Web pages follows the HyperText TransferProtocol (HTTP). Regardless of cookies, browsers request a page from webservers by sending a HTTP request. The server replies by sending therequested page preceded by a similar packet of text, called “HTTPresponse”. This packet may contain lines requesting the browser to storecookies. The server sends lines of Set-Cookie only if the server wishesthe browser to store cookies. Set-Cookie is a directive for the browserto store the cookie and send it back in future requests to the server(subject to expiration time or other cookie attributes), if the browsersupports cookies and cookies are enabled. The value of a cookie can bemodified by sending a new Set-Cookie: name=newvalue line in response ofa page request. The browser then replaces the old value with the newone. Cookies can also be set by JavaScript or similar scripts runningwithin the browser. In JavaScript, the object document.cookie is usedfor this purpose.

Various cookie attributes can be used: a cookie domain, a path,expiration time or maximum age, “secure” flag and “HTTPOnly” flag.Cookie attributes may be used by browsers to determine when to delete acookie, block a cookie or whether to send a cookie (name-value pair) tothe collection site 121 or content site 125. With regard to specific“cookies”, a session cookie may be used, which typically only lasts forthe duration of users using the website. A web browser normally deletessession cookies when it quits. A session cookie is created when noexpires directive is provided when the cookie is created. In anotherembodiment, a persistent cookie (or “tracking cookie”, “in-memorycookie”) may be used, which may outlast user sessions. If a persistentcookie has its Max-Age set to 1 year, then, within the year, the initialvalue set in that cookie would be sent back to a server every time auser visited that server. This could be used to record information suchas how the user initially came to the website. Also, a secure cookie maybe used when a browser is visiting a server via HTTPS, ensuring that thecookie is always encrypted when transmitting from client to server. AnHTTPOnly may also be used. On a supported browser, an HTTPOnly sessioncookie may be used for communicating HTTP (or HTTPS) requests, thusrestricting access from other, non-HTTP APIs (such as JavaScript). Thisfeature may be advantageously applied to session-management cookies.

Under another embodiment, one or more remote servers may be responsiblefor collecting research data on media data exposure, particularly forInternet-related media data. This embodiment is particularlyadvantageous when remote media data exposure techniques are used toproduce research data. One technique, referred to as “logfile analysis,”reads the logfiles in which a web server records all its transactions. Asecond technique, referred to as “page tagging,” uses JavaScript on eachpage to notify a third-party server when a page is rendered by a webbrowser. Both collect data that can be processed to produce web trafficreports together with the Bluetooth signal characteristics. In certaincases, collecting web site data using a third-party data collectionserver (or even an in-house data collection server) requires anadditional DNS look-up by the user's computer to determine the IPaddress of the collection server. As an alternative to logfile analysisand page tagging, “call backs” to the server from the rendered page maybe used to produce research data. In this case, when the page isrendered on the web browser, a portion of Ajax code calls to the server(XMLHttpRequest) and passes information about the client that can thenbe aggregated.

Referring back to the example of FIG. 1, media data is received onprocessing device 101. Portable computing device 103, however, isreceiving media data in the form of a radio broadcast 105 audiblyreproduced on radio 106. In this embodiment, device 103 is equipped withspecially designed software that allows it to produce research datarelating to the broadcast. The term “research data” as used herein meansdata comprising (1) data concerning usage of media data, (2) dataconcerning exposure to media data, and/or (3) market research data.Under one embodiment, research data comprises ancillary codes detectedfrom the audio signal in broadcast 105. The ancillary codes may beencoded and detected using any of the techniques found in U.S. Pat. No.5,450,490 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,763 (Jensen et al.) in whichinformation is represented by a multiple-frequency code signal which isincorporated into an audio signal based upon the masking ability of theaudio signal. Additional examples include U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,180(Neuhauser et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,845,360 (Jensen et al.), wherenumerous messages represented by multiple frequency code signals areincorporated to produce and encoded audio signal. Each of theabove-mentioned patents is incorporated by reference in its entiretyherein. When the ancillary codes are detected in device 103, they may betransmitted to collection server 108 for further processing andidentification for the purposes of producing research data.

In another embodiment, the research data comprises audio signatures(also known as audio “fingerprints”) that are generated in portable userdevice 103. The audio signatures are comprised of features extractedfrom the audio itself using a time-frequency analysis, mainly performedthrough Fourier transforms or alternately wavelet transforms. In thelatter case, a combination of Fast-Fourier Transformation (FFT) andDiscrete Cosine Transformation (DCT) may be used. Examples of suitableaudio fingerprint configurations are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,436,653 (Ellis, et al.), WO Patent Publication No. 02/11123, titled“System and Methods for Recognizing Sound and Music Signals In HighNoise and Distortion” and WO Patent Publication No. 03/091990, titled“Robust and Invariant Audio Pattern Matching.” Each of these documentsis incorporated by reference in its entirety herein. When audiosignatures are formed in portable computing device 103, they may betransmitted to collection server 108 for further processing and matchingto identify the broadcast for the purposes of producing research data.

Portable computing device 104 receives media data from television 107.Under one embodiment, television 107 receives media data in the form ofbroadcast television via terrestrial means, satellite, cable, etc.Portable computing device 104 produces research data based on the audiocomponent of the television broadcast, using ancillary codes and/oraudio signatures, similar to portable computing device 103. Underanother embodiment, television 107 is a “smart” television, meaning thatthe device is either a television set with integrated internetcapabilities or a set-top box for television that offers more advancedcomputing ability and connectivity than a contemporary basic televisionset. Smart televisions may be thought of as an information appliance ora computer system integrated within a television set unit. As such, asmart television may allow the user to install and run more advancedapplications or plugins/addons based on a specific platform. In thisexample, media data exposure occurs similar to computer processingdevice 101, described above.

Each of the portable processing devices 102-104 are equipped withinductive transponders and/or interrogators (or “readers”). Likewise,computer processing device 101, radio 106 and television 107 aresimilarly equipped with inductive transponders and/or readers. Whenportable processing devices come in close proximity to a respectivedevice (101, 106, 107), the devices inductively couple (102→101,103→106, 104→107) and are capable of communicating data with each other.Under one embodiment, portable computing devices 102-104 are alsocapable of coupling and communicating with each other. The transpondersmay be passive transponders, meaning that they do not have their ownpower supply and therefore all power required for the operation must bedrawn from the (electrical/magnetic) field of the reader, or may beactive transponders, meaning that they incorporate a battery, whichsupplies all or part of the power for operation. The devices may beconfigured to operate using different transmission frequencies, whichcommunicate in low frequency (LF; 30-300 kHz), high frequency (HF)/radiofrequency (RF) (3-30 MHz) and ultra-high frequency (UHF; 300 MHz-3GHz)/microwave (>3 GHz). They may be further configured to communicatein remote-coupling ranges (0-1 m), and/or long-ranges (>1 m).

In constructing the transponders for the devices of FIG. 1, a separatetransponder coil may be fabricated to function as an antenna togetherwith a transponder chip, where the chip contains an RF interface,antenna tuning capacitor, RF-to-DC rectifier system, digital control andEEPROM memory, and data modulation circuits. The transponder coil may bebonded to the transponder chip in the conventional manner Alternately,the coil may be integrated onto the chip (“coil-on-chip”). This may bedone using a special microgalvanic process that can take place on anormal CMOS wafer. The coil is placed directly onto the isolator of thesilicon chip in the form of a planar (single layer) spiral arrangementand contacted to the circuit by means of conventional openings in thepassivation layer. The conductor track widths achieved may be in therange of 5-10 μm with a layer thickness of 15-30 μm. A final passivationonto a polyamide base is performed to guarantee the mechanical loadingcapacity of the contactless memory module based upon coil-on-chiptechnology.

The transponders/readers used for FIG. 1 may be configured to transmitdata using full-duplex, half-duplex and/or sequential communications.The transponders used in FIG. 1 preferably use an electronic microchipas the data-carrying device. This has a data storage capacity of betweena few bytes and more than 100 kilobytes. To read from or write to thedata-carrying device it must be possible to transfer data between thereader and the transponder and then back from the transponder to thereader. This transfer takes place according to a plurality ofconfigurations: full-duplex, half-duplex and sequential. In FIG. 2, anillustration is provided representing full-duplex (FULL), half-duplex(HALF) and sequential (SEQ) communication over time. Data transfer fromthe reader to the transponder is termed down-link, while data transferfrom the transponder to the reader is termed up-link.

In the full-duplex procedure (200) the data transfer 200A from thetransponder to the reader (up-link 200C) takes place at the same time asthe data transfer from the reader to the transponder (down-link 200B).This includes configurations in which data is transmitted from thetransponder at a fraction of the frequency of the reader, i.e. asubharmonic, or at a completely independent, i.e. an anharmonic,frequency. In half-duplex communication (210) the data transfer from thetransponder to the reader alternates with data transfer from the readerto the transponder (210B, 210C). At frequencies below 30 MHz this ismost often used with a load modulation procedure, either with or withouta subcarrier. For both full-duplex and half-duplex communication, thetransfer of energy from the reader to the transponder is continuous,i.e. it is independent of the direction of data flow. In sequentialcommunication (SEQ 220), on the other hand, the transfer of energy fromthe transponder to the reader takes place for a limited period of timeonly. Data transfer from the transponder to the reader (220C) occurs inthe pauses between the power supply to the transponder (220B). The datatransfer may be accomplished utilizing amplitude shift keying (ASK),frequency shift keying (FSK) and/or phase shift keying (PSK). Under apreferred embodiment, ASK is used due to the simplicity of demodulation.

As is known in the art, inductive coupling is based upon atransformer-type coupling between the primary coil in the reader and thesecondary coil in the transponder. This is true when the distancebetween the coils does not exceed (λ/2π) 0.16λ, so that the transponderis located in the near field of the transmitter antenna. If a resonanttransponder (i.e. a transponder with a self-resonant frequencycorresponding with the transmission frequency of the reader) is placedwithin the magnetic alternating field of the reader's antenna, thetransponder draws energy from the magnetic field. The resulting feedbackof the transponder on the reader's antenna can be represented astransformed impedance in the antenna coil of the reader. Switching aload resistor on and off at the transponder's antenna therefore bringsabout a change in the impedance, and thus voltage changes at thereader's antenna. This has the effect of an amplitude modulation of thevoltage at the reader's antenna coil by the remote transponder. If thetiming with which the load resistor is switched on and off is controlledby data, this data can be transferred from the transponder to thereader. This type of data transfer is referred to load modulation.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary circuit for a transponder using loadmodulation with a subcarrier. The circuit is advantageous for anoperating frequency of 13.56 MHz and is capable of generating asubcarrier of 212 kHz. The voltage induced at antenna coil L1 by themagnetic alternating field (H) of a reader is rectified using the bridgerectifier (D1-D4) and after additional smoothing (C1) is available tothe circuit as supply voltage. The parallel regulator prevents thesupply voltage from being subject to an uncontrolled increase when thetransponder approaches a reader antenna. To reclaim the data at thereader, voltage tapped at the reader's antenna is rectified. Thisrepresents the demodulation of an amplitude modulated signal. Part ofthe high frequency antenna voltage (13.56 MHz) travels to the frequencydivider's timing input (CLK) via the protective resistor (R1) andprovides the transponder with the basis for the generation of aninternal clocking signal. After division, a subcarrier clocking signalof 212 kHz is available at output 311 of IC 310. The subcarrier clockingsignal, controlled by a serial data flow at the data input (DATA), ispassed to the switch T1. If there is a logical “high” signal at the datainput (DATA), then the subcarrier clocking signal is passed to switchT1. Load resistor R2 is then switched on and off in time with thesubcarrier frequency. Optionally in the circuit depicted, thetransponder resonant circuit can be brought into resonance with thecapacitor C1 at 13.56 MHz. The range of the transponder can besignificantly increased in this manner.

FIG. 4 illustrates load modulation where two sidebands (400A, 400B) arerepresented by modulation products utilizing load modulations with asubcarrier. These modulation sidebands can be separated from thesignificantly stronger signal of the reader by bandpass filtering. Afteramplification, the subcarrier signal can be advantageously demodulated.As can be seen from FIG. 4, sidebands 400A, 400B are created at adistance of the subcarrier frequency f_(S) around the transmissionfrequency of the reader, where f_(T) represents a carrier signal of thereader, measured at the antenna coil. Information is carried in thesidebands of the two subcarrier sidebands, which are created by themodulation of the subcarrier. Load modulation with subcarriers ispreferably performed in the frequency range 13.56 MHz, using subcarrierfrequencies of 212 kHz, 424 kHz (see ISO/IEC 15 693) and 848 kHz (seeISO/IEC 14443).

FIG. 5 illustrates a circuit under another embodiment utilizing along-range transponder, which allows inductively coupled communicationto extend to distances exceeding one meter. The circuit may be operatedat the UHF frequencies (e.g., 868 MHz, 915 MHz) and at microwavefrequencies 2.5 and 5.8 GHz. The short wavelengths of these frequencyranges facilitate the construction of antennas with far smallerdimensions and greater efficiency than would be possible using frequencyranges below 30 MHz. Utilizing dipole antennas (513) Power P1 is emittedfrom the reader's (502) antenna, a proportion of which reaches thetransponder's (501) antenna. The power P1′ is supplied to the antennaconnections as RF voltage and after rectification by the diodes D1 andD2 can be used as turn-on voltage for the deactivation or activation ofthe power saving ‘power down’ mode. Preferably, the diodes used arelow-barrier Schottky diodes, which have a particularly low thresholdvoltage. The voltage obtained may also be sufficient to serve as a powersupply for short ranges. If the transponder moves out of range of areader, then the chip automatically switches over to the power-saving‘power down’ mode. In this state the power consumption is a few μA atmost. The chip is not reactivated until a sufficiently strong signal isreceived in the read range of a reader, whereupon it switches back tonormal operation. The battery of an active transponder does not normallyprovide power for the transmission of data between transponder andreader, but supplies power to the microchip. Data transmission betweentransponder (501) and reader (502) relies upon the power of theelectromagnetic field emitted by the reader under normal operation.

A proportion of the incoming power P1′ is reflected by the antenna (513)and returned as power P2. The reflection characteristics of the antennacan be influenced by altering the load connected to the antenna. Inorder to transmit data from the transponder to the reader, a loadresistor RL connected in parallel with the antenna is switched on andoff in time (T) with the data stream to be transmitted. The amplitude ofthe power P2 reflected from transponder 501 can thus be modulated(backscatter). Power P2 reflected from the transponder is radiated intofree space, where a proportion of it is picked up by the reader'santenna (513). The reflected signal travels into the antenna connectionof the reader in the backwards direction and can be decoupled using adirectional coupler 511 and transferred to the receiver (RX) input ofreader 502. The forward signal of the transmitter TX, which is normallymultiple times stronger by (e.g., 10×), is to a large degree suppressedby directional coupler 511.

Under another embodiment, inductive coupling may take place usingnear-field communication (NFC) which is a wireless data interfacesimilar to infrared or Bluetooth. Data transmission between two NFCinterfaces uses high-frequency magnetic alternating fields preferably inthe frequency range of 13.56 MHz. A typical maximum communication rangefor NFC data transmission is 20 cm because the respective communicationcounterpart is located in the near-field of the transmitter antenna. TheNFC interface has a transmitter and a receiver that are alternatelyconnected to an antenna, preferably designed as a large-surface coil orconductor loop. During communication, the individual NFC interfaces cantake on different functions, i.e. that of an NFC initiator (masterdevice) or an NFC target (slave device). Communication is typicallystarted by the NFC initiator.

NFC communication distinguishes between two different operational modes,referred to as an “active” and “passive” mode. In order to transmit databetween two NFC interfaces in active mode, at first one of the NFCinterfaces activates its transmitter and thus works as the NFCinitiator. The high-frequency current that flows in the antenna inducesan alternating magnetic field that spreads around the antenna loop. Partof the induced magnetic field moves through the antenna loop of theother NFC interface which is located close by. A voltage is induced inthe antenna loop and can be detected by the receiver of the other NFCinterface. If the NFC interface receives signals and the correspondingcommands of an NFC initiator, this NFC interface automatically adoptsthe roll of an NFC target.

For data transmission between the NFC interfaces, the amplitude of theemitted magnetic alternating field is modulated (ASK modulation),similar to the data transmission between an RFID reader and transponder.The transmission direction is reversed in order to send data from theNFC target to the NFC initiator. This means that the NFC targetactivates the transmitter and the NFC initiator switches to receivingmode. Both NFC interfaces alternately induce magnetic fields where datais transmitted from transmitter to receiver only. In the passive mode,the NFC initiator also induces a magnetic alternating field fortransmitting data to the NFC target. The field's amplitude is modulatedin line with the pulse of the data to be transmitted (ASK modulation).However, after having transmitted a data block, the field is notinterrupted, but continues to be emitted in an unmodulated way. The NFCtarget now is able to transmit data to the NFC initiator by generating aload modulation. The load modulation method is also known from RFIDsystems.

Using this method for NFC interfaces provides a number of advantages andfor practical operation. The different roles of the two NFC interfaceswithin the NFC communication can be negotiated and changed at any time.An NFC interface with a weak power supply, e.g. with a low-capacitybattery, can negotiate and adopt the role of the NFC target in order tosave power by transmitting data via load modulation. The NFC interfacethat is the target is also able to establish, in addition to other NFCinterfaces, the communication to compatible passive transponders (e.g.according to ISO/IEC 14443) that the NFC target supplies with power andthat, via load modulation, can transmit data to the NFC interface. Thisoption enables electronic devices equipped with NFC interfaces, such asNFC mobile phones, to read and write on different transponders. As theNFC interface in this case behaves similar to an RFID reader, thisoption is also called ‘reader mode’ or ‘reader-emulation mode’.

If an NFC interface is located close to a compatible RFID reader (e.g.according to ISO/IEC 14443), the NFC reader is also able to communicatewith a reader. Here, the NFC interface adopts the roll of an NFC targetand can transmit data to the reader using load modulation. This optionenables RFID readers to exchange data with an electronic device with NFCinterface, such as NFC mobile phones, allowing the electronic device tobehave like a contactless smart card. Additionally, an NFC device cancommunicate in a peer-to-peer mode (ISO 18092), allowing two NFC-enabledevices to establish a bi-directional connection to exchange data. Toestablish a connection, a client (NFC peer-to-peer initiator) searchesfor a host (NFC peer-to-peer target) to set up a connection. Then, theNFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) is used to transmit the data.

Turning to FIG. 6, an exemplary portable computing device 600 isillustrated having media measurement and inductive couplingcapabilities. Microphone 612 is configured to capture ambient audio,where digital signal processor/decoder 608 is configured to detectancillary codes and/or signatures with the assistance of applicationprocessor 601. The detected codes and/or signatures are then stored inmemory 607. RF unit is capable of receiving voice and/or datacommunication, while baseband processor 610 manages all the radiofunctions which may include Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth, and may beconfigured with its own RAM and firmware (not shown). Inductioncontroller 609 may comprise a host interface, a microprocessor, acontactless UART (universal asynchronous receiver transmitter), andhandles data control from antenna 613, which further communicates withexternal reader/tag 615. SIM card 605 may contain data about the deviceand the user, and may further store applications for controller 609.Controller applications may also reside in a secure area in memory 607.Under one embodiment, communications between controller 609 and SIM 605occur via single wire protocol (SWP).

Inductive coupler module 606 controls transmission of application data(APDU, described in ISO/IEC 1443-4), and, under another embodiment, maybe incorporated into application processor 601, and/or also may beintegrated with antenna 613 in a “smart card” type configuration.Coupler module 606 and SIM card 605 communicate with applicationprocessor 601 preferably utilizing APDUs. Transmitted APDU can containany desired data, such as command and response. The structure of thisprotocol is described further in ISO/IEC 7816-3. Application processor601 comprises a Java virtual machine (JVM), which is a virtual machinecapable of executing Java bytecode from Java applications 604.Typically, source code is compiled to Java bytecode, which is verified,interpreted or JIT-compiled for the native architecture of device 600.The Java APIs and JVM together make up the Java Runtime Environment. JVM606 communicates with APIs 603, which may contain APIs for contactlesscommunication (JSR-257), security and trust services (JSR-177), andothers known in the art.

Turning to FIG. 7, an exemplary process is described for associatinginductively-coupled portable computing devices (e.g., 102-104) toexposed media data. At the start 705, media data is received 706 in adevice (101, 106, 107) that may be in proximity to a portable computingdevice. The receipt of media data may be initiated via the start of aweb session, detection of ancillary code(s), and/or audio signatureformation, wherein research data is collected 707 for any of theaforementioned formats. In step 708 the device receiving media datadetects whether a portable computing device is inductively coupled. Ifso, the portable computing device transfers data 709 indicating itspresence, and may transfer additional data pertaining to the deviceand/or user. This data is then time stamped and stored. When apredetermined amount of time has lapsed, or if media data is no longerbeing received, or if different media data is received, the producedresearch data is processed together with the data received from theinductive coupling to link the device (user) with the research data,which is ultimately used (e.g., in collection server 108) to determineand/or confirm that a specific user was present when media data wasreceived.

If, in step 708, it was determined that no device was inductivelycoupled, research data continues to be generated in 711. The processcontinues where, if further media data is being received, research datacontinues to be produced 711. If, no further media data is beingreceived (or, if a predetermined period of time has expired, indicatingthe end of a session), a message is presented 713 indicating that themedia data is ended. Under a preferred embodiment, message 713 containsa request to inductively couple. This embodiment is particularlyadvantageous when a portable computing device is inadvertently leftoutside the communication range of a device presenting media data. In714, detection is made to see if a device inductively couples after themessage. If no device is coupled, the process ends 715 and the researchdata is sent for further processing and for the generation of mediaexposure reports. If, however a device inductively couples at thispoint, the research data gets associated with the coupled device. Underone embodiment, the coupled device receives full research data creditfor being exposed to the media throughout the entire media session.under another embodiment, the coupled device receives partial researchdata credit for the research session; the partial credit may be based ona predetermined time period, or may comprise a predetermined fraction(e.g., 50%). Such a configuration provides great flexibility forresearchers to measure and credit media data exposure for the purposesof producing research data reports.

There is additional flexibility in presenting message 713. Inembodiments where computer processor devices are used, the message maybe a text message, image, video, audio, etc. presented on the device,instructing the user to inductively couple. Similarly, televisions,set-top boxes, media boxes and the like could present messages similarlyto computer processing devices. In embodiments where a radio presentsmedia data, the radio may be equipped with communications softwareallowing it to communicate the coupling message wirelessly (e.g., Wi-Fi,Bluetooth) to a portable computing device. Under another embodiment, theinductive coupling message may be triggered on the portable computingdevice via ancillary code embedded in the audio. When the ancillary codecontaining a message command is detected on a portable computing device,where the device automatically executed messaging software to presentsthe message on the device.

Furthermore, devices 102-104 may transmit research data and/or mediadata-related information to each other in a peer-to-peer fashion. Theinformation may include data generated and/or received via inductivecoupling. This configuration is particularly advantageous when multipleportable computing devices are part of a household, and household mediaexposure (in addition to individual exposure) is being monitored.

While at least one example embodiment has been presented in theforegoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vastnumber of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that theexample embodiment or embodiments described herein are not intended tolimit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention in anyway. Rather, the foregoing detailed description will provide thoseskilled in the art with a convenient and edifying road map forimplementing the described embodiment or embodiments. It should beunderstood that various changes can be made in the function andarrangement of elements without departing from the scope of theinvention and the legal equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for processing media exposure,comprising: collecting research data relating to media received in acomputer processing device; when a portable computing device is notinductively coupled to the computer processing device, presenting amessage requesting communicative coupling of the portable computingdevice to the computer processing device; receiving information from theportable computing device via an inductive connection when it isdetected that the portable computing device is coupled to the computerprocessing device; and associating the information to the research data.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the media comprises at least one of aweb page, audio, video, text or an image.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the research data comprises at least one of a cookie, a logfile,a page tag, a code detected from an audio portion of the media or anaudio signature generated from the audio portion of the media.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising, when no portable computing deviceis inductively coupled, continuing to collect the research data untilone of (a) a threshold amount of time has expired, (b) media is nolonger being received, or (c) different media is received in thecomputer processing device, at which time the computer processing devicepresents the message requesting the communicative coupling.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the information from the portable computingdevice is received via a load modulated signal.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein the information from the portable computing device isreceived using at least one of full-duplex communication, half-duplexcommunication or sequential communication.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the information received from the portable computing device viathe inductive connection comprises information relating to the portablecomputing device.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the informationrelating to the portable computing device is user data.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the presenting of the message comprises presenting themessage to a user of the portable computing device.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein associating the information to the research datacomprises confirming that a user of the portable computing device waspresent relative to the computer processing device when the media wasreceived in the computer processing device.